First Look At Ubuntu Linux 5.04 Array-4

The first obstacle I had to get by was the naming the developers chose for their releases. I find it amazing that they've gotten so popular with such atrocious branding. This release (v5.04) is called “Hoary” or “Hoary Hedgehog”, which gives me the impression I need to whip out my wallet, pay for services rendered, and hit the confessional in the morning. Taken literally, it means ancient insect eating rodent. Is this any better? Not really. First things first... they need someone to seriously give them proper release names. The current stable release (v4.10) is dubbed “Warty”, which is another discussion entirely.

It must be noted that we're reviewing a development release, containing some of the latest software available for Linux today. This is what makes it so appealing to everyone who loves to live on the bleeding edge of Open Source technology. From the latest Linux kernel to the new Gnome 2.9.91 public beta release, this distro has what it takes to lure some of the most curious souls in to have a look... including myself. That being said, it needs to be known that not all of the features are going to be up to speed with what we might expect from a production release. I've used Ubuntu Warty (their stable release) in the past and to be honest it's very much the same as far as I could tell. If you'd like to sacrifice bleeding edge for stability/speed, then Warty might be more appropriate for you.